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Print Friendly MapThe Elm Creek Park Reserve is an outdoor lovers’ dream. At 4,900 acres, it’s the largest park in Hennepin County. The park provides enough amenities to keep people coming all year round. Cyclists especially will enjoy the 20 miles of well-paved twists, turns, climbs and dips. (Separately, there are an additional 13 miles of mountain biking trails). The trails circle round the park in a loop, offering an interesting way to experience the diversity of landscapes, flora and fauna that the reserve has to offer. Within the loop, riders will wind through open prairie, quiet wooded corridors, lakes, waterways and wetlands. For those seeking a challenge, the southern loop provides a particularly demanding ride; it’s a coaster of miles of punishing climbs and exhilarating downhill runs. The northern section tends to be both flatter and quieter; you might see the occasional bicyclist. Take advantage of this to glide along the asphalt while enjoying unspoiled panoramas. The trail is shared so cyclists should be aware of walkers and runners.
The main Elm Creek park entrance (12400 James Deane Parkway, Maple Grove) is to the south. An alternative is the entrance to the Eastman Nature Center to the west, which is more popular with cyclists as an access point to the trails.
Best place to ride in the twin cities
I chose to ride Elm Creek expecting a great ride. It was so beautiful. I TrueType enjoyed the nicely maintained paved paths thru woodlands, meadows, lakes, and low land areas. Would I go again? In a heart beat. Tom
Slight rolling hills. Great meadow and tree lined trails. Not a lot of people. If you take the loop around it is about 14 miles. The pathway is super smooth. Highly recommend!
Great views of meadows and water. Lots of delightful benches. A great swimming pool/lake to take a dip and buy some ice cream in the summer. Coming from the south I took the Medicine Lake Regional to get here and the the Rice Lake local trails out. These trails added some nice distance (though not as perfectly smooth) to the 20 without ever biking on a street.
Very well paved with some rolling hills as other reviewers have mentioned. The trail is gorgeous as it passes over fields and under trees. Easy to moderate difficulty.
A well maintained and popular loop trail. Hills are there but manageable. About 2/3 in woods 1/3 in wooded prairie. Trail has lots of turns and bends so passing and side by side riding can be a challenge. Map is useful since there are several offshoot trails leading to parking areas and spots.
Well maintained trails winter and summer. Hilly, but manageable. Great scenery and wildlife. Something for everyone!
Great paved trails with rolling hills that present a good workout but are very doable. We spent a day here with our kids and they loved biking the trials.
Very nice surface. The trail twists and turns, dips and rises though a variety of habitat. You can ride for an hour without crossing a road. Wonderful experience.
:) smooth asphalt, long distance , flat surface
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